Soaring with students

Faculty and staff have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for nearly two years to make the launch of the University's campaign, titled We Soar, a success. But it couldn’t have been possible without one group — UD students.

The creation of We Soar’s launch event started in January 2022 when students, faculty and staff from different departments and majors came together to brainstorm. In the end, the group walked away agreeing that the We Soar launch would include elements of spoken word, theatrical performances and filmmaking. And students were going to help make it all happen.

Caroline Herling ’23, a theatre, dance and performance technology major, said she was ecstatic when she was asked to be a part of the production that took place the evening of April 19 in the Dayton Arcade in front of more than 500 community members.

“Being able to truly help UD in a way that I didn’t think my talents would be able to means everything to me,” Herling said. 

“Being able to truly help UD in a way that I didn’t think my talents would be able to means everything to me.”

Last summer, Herling joined with fellow major Jada Gee ’23 and professor Michelle Hayford, director of the Theatre, Dance and Performance Technology Program, in a group to brainstorm about how they would craft a performance demonstrating one of UD’s core values — diversity and inclusion. The performers wanted to write a story to show how students of all backgrounds can attend the University of Dayton and feel they belong on this campus. 

“Every time you get an opportunity to be on stage or in front of a camera, you have to snatch that up and really absorb it,” said Herling. “I thoroughly appreciated this opportunity, especially because every time I work on a project like this I am given chances to get a little more comfortable in front of an audience, whether it’s live or not.”  

The end result was a performance inspired and influenced by playwright Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, including more than 10 student actors and the ensemble of the Common Good Players. The evening's production included musical performances by the University Chorale, the Pride of Dayton marching band, the Flyer Pep Band and the First Flight Saxophone Quartet. 

The campaign video was all premiered that night. Sophomore Hayden Parsons, a communication major, worked with University Marketing and Communications staff members on the We Soar campaign launch video. While she said she was excited to be a part of the project, the campaign launch was to be kept a secret, and so she couldn't share her work with others until after the April 19 launch.

“It’s been a long time coming … I think that the most difficult part of this whole process was keeping quiet, especially because we’re doing something amazing for our university and we couldn’t tell anyone about it,” said Parsons.

As a way to capture all of the team’s hard work, Parsons created a behind-the-scenes video featuring scenes from the script writing, video shoots, rehearsals and short interviews.

The students said they appreciated the chance to be a part of something big at UD and have an unprecedented experiential learning opportunity.

“I am most proud that I was able to truly witness UD’s community come together in the most genuine way for this one common goal,” said Parsons.